The Real Enemy
by soiheardyoulikedpanzers
Summary: The Neuroi get a new weapon to combat the strike witches - Transporting them into a new dimension, where the Neuroi never came. A Strike Witches fanfic. Rated M for possible adult themes and scenes of war. Updated whenever I feel like it, so don't expect a new chapters very soon.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **So this is an idea that I've been playing with in my mind. Not sure if I want to continue, but here it is and enjoy.

**September 21st, 1944 - Off the coast of Britannia - "Neuroi" Dimension **

"Sometimes I wish the Neuroi never came."

"Wish all you want, but they are here, and all we can do now is fight."

Everyone of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing was flying in perfect formation. They had just started an attack on a Neuroi drone. Everything was standard, until the drone decided to turn back. Mio thought for a bit. It was unusual for a Neuroi drone to turn, let alone run away. They gave chase, but the drone kept accelerating. Dark storm clouds started forming around the drone. Soon it was only Charlotte who could keep up with the drone. The storm clouds became thicker and thicker as the group approached. The drone disappeared, and Charlotte was going too fast to avoid the storm clouds, which were now spewing lightning. She disappeared in the clouds as well. Mio told the rest of the fighter wing to head back to base, and headed into the storm clouds herself. Even with magic, Charlotte was not going to last long in a lightning storm like that. As she flew into the clouds, she felt a sharp pain, blanked out, and then experienced a falling sensation.

* * *

**September 21st, 1944 - Peleliu -** **"Human"** **Dimension **

"This is Able Flight. We'd like to report two figures falling into the ocean, approximately two nautical miles northwest of the island. No visible wreckage."

"Roger that Able Flight, we're sending Catalinas out now."

The call over the radio was interrupted by the flight lead.

"You heard the man, we're changing course to vector 220."

Kitty Flight was composed of just two PBY-5a Catalinas, and was tasked with search and rescue. Aside from the odd nature of this mission, it really was just a routine flight. Two figures and no wreckage? If anything it made it easier, as you didn't have to sift through all the metal parts and leaking oil to get to the person.

"No wreckage eh? Probably some sort of artifact or optical illusion. We'll be home soon."

"Come on Curtiss, you know someone from high command will screw us over one way or another."

"Aww, shut up Johnny. A man can dream."

The whole crew burst in laughter.

"Hey, I can see the two figures now!"

The Catalina touched down on the water, and parked next to the two figures. The one of the crew members reached out to grab them but hesitated a bit.

"Uhhh, sir... It's two girls..."

"Girls? well, pick them up anyway and we'll head back to base. Let's see what high command has to say about this..."

The crew fished out the girls from the cold pacific, and laid them down inside the Catalina. They seemed unconscious.

"What the hell? What kind of contraption is on their legs!?" The whole crew stopped a bit to look. Some sort of thin machine with stubby "wings" was attached to the girl's legs. One of the girls had a sword and wore an eyepatch. Out of curiosity, the crew member lifted the eyepatch and the eyelid underneath.

"Holy shit! What sort of eye condition is that? Get the medic up here!" The medic came up to take a look.

"Doesn't look like anything in the books... my best guess would be some sort of infection."

"Curtiss! Take us out of here!"

"Roger that!"

The flying boat accelerated and was in the air in the blink of an eye.


	2. Chapter 2

**September 22nd, 1944 - Peleliu - "Human"** **Dimension**

Mio awoke with a headache. She found herself on a cot under a hastily made green tent. She looked around. Her weapons and sword were missing. Next to her was Charlotte, who was still sleeping. Her striker unit was still on, so she took it off and got off the cot. Perhaps some fresh air would help with the headache. She walked out and was bombarded with the intense heat. Having been used to the relatively cool climate of Britannia, this almost threw her off her feet. She spotted a group of soldiers sitting around in a circle, some smoking, some eating. Perhaps they would know where she was. Where were the soldiers from? As a part of her strike witch training, she learned all the languages of the major powers in the war, but she didn't know what language the soldiers spoke. She finally settled on her native tongue. (Unbeknownst to her, the soldiers would call this "Japanese") It was hard to speak in anything else with a headache anyway.

"Excuse me, do you know where I am?"

The group of soldiers immediately stopped whatever they were doing and scrambled for their guns laying on the ground. Mio was soon surrounded by these soldiers and held at gunpoint. The eldest member of the group did a hand motion, and the guns slowly lowered.

"I would advise you get back in your tent. Some of the boys here would kill you in a heartbeat if you kept speaking like that." He pointed at the tent Mio just emerged from. Mio understood and walked back in. Meanwhile, the group of soldiers sat back down in their circle.

"Sarge, come on! Why did you send her back? We could have had some fun with her!"

"Fun?"

"You know, make her run, fire a few warning shots, heh... maybe giver her a pat down?"

The sergeant just looked a the private in disgust.

* * *

**September 22nd, 1944 - In Orbit around Earth, Neuroi High Command - "Neuroi"** **Dimension**

"Sir! The new weapon is a success! Reports have shown consistently two less of those pests in every attack."

"Good. Then we shall send another one. May I ask how the weapon works?"

"Well sir, It opens a portal through space and time. Quite similar to the one we used to get here, but altered in the sense that they will be transported into a whole new dimension. There also is a chance that they will be transported through time if the conditions are right, but they will only be transported around five earth years either way, or five earth years to the past or to the present."

"With those pests gone, we shall have the planet by the next orbit."

* * *

**September 22nd, 1944 - Britannia - "Neuroi"** **Dimension**

It's been a day. Mio and Charlotte are still missing. In the meantime, Minna has took full control. While two witches were missing, they were still an effective fighting force. Air sirens blared yet again, and the witches were scrambled. They were met by a Neuroi drone, but this one wasn't firing. Although strange, Minna decided to attack it anyway. They took turns in pairs strafing until they could find the core. Next it was Erica and Gertrude's turn. As they were attacking, a puff of dark stormcloud emitted from the drone. This seemed too much like the attack that made Mio and Charlotte disappear. As Erica and Gertrude flew in, they were engulfed in the storm cloud. As the storm cloud dissipated, Erica and Gertrude were nowhere to be found.

* * *

**February 13th, 1945 - Dresden, Germany - "Human" Dimension**

Erica and Gertrude found themselves falling. They quickly stabilized, and tried to locate where they were. It was pitch dark, so it was hard to tell what was up or down. At least they didn't feel like they were falling anymore. Suddenly, the droning sound of engines. Erica and Gertrude turned around to be almost hit by some large, four engined aircraft.

"Blimey!" The pilot of the aircraft shoved his control yoke down to avoid what seemed to be two hovering girls.

"By god, what in the world did we almost hit? Please tell me you saw that too."

The co-pilot looked up from the instrument panel. "huh?"

"I could have sworn there were two girls right there." He pointed out the windshield and continued. "Hovering on some sort of blue aura. It's the strangest thing I've seen."

"Look, it's late at night, and we've been flying for the past hour or two. You must be seeing things."

A call over the radio:

"Controller to Plate Rack Force: Come in and bomb glow of red target indicators as planned. Bomb the glow of red TIs as planned."

A red glow appeared on the horizon.

"Bombardier! Arm weapons and prepare to drop!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

**September 22nd, 1944 - Peleliu - "Human"** **Dimension**

Charlotte has awoke, and has also ventured out of the tent. Naturally speaking English, she was popular among the soldiers, but still was confused on her whereabouts. They seemed to be on a beach with multiple tents and some sort of armored landing craft resting at irregular intervals along the beach. There were soldiers running everywhere, and the constant barking of orders pierced through the intense heat. Occasionally, blue colored propeller aircraft would fly overhead, amid cheers and "Go get 'em boys!". Charlotte identified them as Liberion F4U Corsairs. Where were they going? And why did they seem to always go in one direction with things hanging off the wings, and go the opposite direction empty-winged? She spotted Mio taking a stroll along the shoreline.

"Major!"

"Shirley!"

They exchanged greetings and set off to find their belongings. When looking around camp wouldn't do anything, they resorted to asking what little soldiers they could find. Mio, not being an expert in english, found asking people awkward. Occasionally the troops would just tell her to bug off and go away, spewing racial slurs. Charlotte on the other hand...

"Excuse me sir, would you mind helping me find my equipment?"

The soldier being addressed couldn't believe his eyes. There, standing, a girl! And a pretty one at that, asking him a question. Fighting the war for two years, he didn't have any contact with anyone of the opposite sex, and here was this pretty girl, directly addressing him! Needless to say, he was more than happy to help.

"What do you need to find ma'am?"

"My BAR seems to have disappeared."

"You could check the supply yard. Plenty of guns and ammo there. I can take you there if you'd like." And so the young soldier walked up to supply yard. The supply yard was little more than a large tent with guns, ammo, medical supplies, and rations. The tent itself was stocked full and there was barely any room for the quartermaster running the supply yard. The quartermaster had a table and chair set up in front of the tent, and was sitting there, busy cleaning his rifle. He noticed the young soldier and Charlotte.

"So waddya want!?" The quartermaster seemed a bit annoyed at the soldier. With most other people out to battle, he expected today to be a day where he could just sit back and rest.

The soldier did most of the talking.

"So this fine gal here needs her BAR." The quartermaster stood wide eyed at Charlotte.

"Well, I'm sorry, but women in the service don't get weapons." Charlotte was confused. Why would women not get a weapon? The witches were the only ones who could stop the neuroi. She decided to try and speak some sense into this quartermaster.

"Look, I've been fighting the Neuroi for a while now with that gun. I need it back."

"Hold on right there... the "Neuroi"? Is that what our boys are calling the japs now? Japs, Tojo, yellow monkeys, and now the Neuroi? I really do have to get with the times."

The soldier was also confused and asked for clarification, whispering into Charlotte's ear, "Who are the Neuroi?"

Charlotte was more shocked then them. "You know, big black aircraft that shoot energy beams that can destroy whole land masses..."

Both the quartermaster and the soldier laughed. "You sure you didn't watch some horror movie and get scared? Wow... big black aircraft that destroy continents... that's a new one."

"Can you just give me my BAR?"

The quartermaster grabbed a Bar from the back of the tent and laid it on the table. The BAR was dirty and in disrepair.

"Here ya go."

Charlotte was up in arms. "That's not my BAR! Mine has a 40 round mag!"

"40 round mag? I'm sorry. All the BAR's here have 20 round mags."

"Let me look myself." The quartermaster stopped her. "I can't let you in there."

Charlotte climbed up and over the table and went to look anyway. After a while, she found her BAR and proudly displayed it to the quartermaster.

"See, 40 rounds!" The quartermaster felt a bit defeated. He never knew he had a 40 round BAR... perhaps it was time to update his records once again. Ugh. More work.

Charlotte pranced her way back to Mio, and let her to the supply yard.

The annoyed quartermaster looked up yet again.

"You're back? What now?"

"Give my friend here her sword back."

The quartermaster went into the tent and came back out with Mio's sword. "You mean this?"

"Yes. Now if you would be so kind as to give it back to her-" The quartermaster suddenly broke out into a wide grin.

"Now, since this isn't standard issue, I can't give it to you."

"But is is rightfully hers!"

"Alright then... So how much you gonna pay?"

"Pay?"

"If it isn't standard issue, I can't give it to you, but for a price I can see what I can do."

The same sergeant that Mio encountered earlier soon walked up to the supply yard. The quartermaster dropped the sword and turned his attention to the sergeant. "What can I do for you sarge?"

"We've got wounded and the medics don't have enough supplies."

The quartermaster went into the tent and plucked out some medical supplies. He then handed them to the sergeant. The sergeant then ran off to a group of medics and soldiers, all huddled around two stretchers. Charlotte and Mio went to go check it out. As they approached they started hearing unearthly cries of pain and field medics giving out orders.

"GODDAMN IT! I NEED MORE MORPHINE!"

"GIVE ME SOME MORE BANDAGES!"

Charlotte and Mio both peered through the mass of soldiers to find two men lying on stretchers. Both covered in blood. One had his right foot and parts of his calf missing, leaving only a bloody charred stump left. The other had a giant gash on his chest, still gushing out blood. Both the girls quickly looked away, but the damage had been done. They couldn't get the image out of their minds.

Charlotte was too scared to to know the details, and what kind of horrendous thing could have injured those two men so badly. It couldn't have been the Neuroi, as usually someone hit would be killed instantly, but she found herself asking that inevitable question: "My god what happened?"

Another bystander answered. "Those damn sneaky Japs... Private Wilson over here hit a mine, while the other one seems to have been bayoneted."

"WE'RE LOSING HIM!" The soldier with the gash on his chest stopped screaming in pain and started to fall limp.

"He's done for! Focus on the other one!" Mio and Shirley looked on in horror as the medics proceeded to abandon the soldier and start working on the soldier missing the lower part of his leg. Medics shouldn't just abandon their patients!

The two witches wondered who exactly who these "Japs" were and how they were willing to hurt and kill another human, and why the medics were so readily willing to abandon someone without checking if he really was dead or not.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

**February 13th, 1945 - Dresden, Germany - "Human" Dimension**

The flaming ground lit up the sky as if daylight. Both Barkhorn and Hartmann were horrified to notice that the big bombers with Britainian insignia were causing the firestorm down below. These big clam shell doors would open at the bottom, some sort of round devices would drop from them, and a few moments later the ground would be on fire.

"Why are they catching the city on fire?"

"I don't know! Where'd Britannia get so many big planes? I thought aircraft production was restricted to fighters and striker units only."

"Is Britannia hiding something from us?"

The next event tore directly at the core of Barkhorn's moral code. There was a little girl, no more than six years old on the ground. A woman, presumably her mother, was sticking her head out of some sort of outside cellar door and gesturing for the little girl to get inside. The mother looked up, saw the large Britannian aircraft overhead and quickly dragged the little girl into the cellar. There were still people living in the city! She couldn't help but think of her own sister back home.

Quickly screaming for Hartmann to keep an eye out, she decided to take things into her own hands. Skillfully matching her speed to that of the bombers, Gertrude flew close to one of the bomber's cockpits, and tried to get attention. The pilot was too busy monitoring the instrument panel, while the copilot seemed to be sleeping. She decided to knock on the glass.

* * *

Flight sergeant Arthur White looked towards the sound of the strange knocking noise. He was met with the sight of a young lady flying with some sort of apparatus on her legs. He quickly shook his copilot awake.

"JOHN! JOHN! GET UP!"

His copilot, sergeant John Wilson, slowly arose from his slumber.

"What is it now? My turn to fly already?"

"LOOK UP!"

The copilot stared right into the eyes of the young woman above and to the right of them. She looked angry, and more worryingly, was armed.

"Arthur... Could you try to wake me up again. I appear to be dreaming."

"I'm not going crazy, am I? You see it too, right?"

"If you don't mind, I'm going back to sleep. Flying girls? Heh." John let off a chuckle and slowly dozed off, leaving Arthur to deal with the situation alone. The bombardier was looking downwards and was oblivious to the situation. The gunners? Perhaps they saw the girl too. Arthur asked the dorsal turret gunner if he could corroborate his observation. Another, blond haired girl joined the first.

"You don't happen to be seeing what I'm seeing, right?"

The gunner, being situated behind the girls and looking right at them, (creating the same effect as looking under a girl's skirt), simply replied with, "I've got... err.. quite the view." At this point the gunner was blushing profusely.

In the meantime, Gertrude was trying to signal that there were still people living in the city. Even with a flurry of pointing and charades, Arthur was still unable to decipher the message. The bombardier interrupted with, "BOMBS GONE!", as the Lancaster started to climb. Gertrude and Erica watched on for the inevitable. The bombs hit the same cellar door that was open and active just a few moments before. The two witches could only hope that the occupants were safe.

* * *

The two witches broke off the Lancaster to collect their thoughts.

"So these strange aircraft aren't neuroi."

"Why would they have been built? You'd think Britannia would have told us about this."

The 501st's base was in Britannia, so if these aircraft were in fact Britainnian, the witches figured they'd just have to follow one to reach home. By this time the bomber they had made contact with was already quite ahead, so the two witches increased speed to meet up with the Lancaster.

There was a problem. The tail gunner, without a view of the top or sides of the plane was unaware of the meet-up that had just happened. When he saw two glowing figures trailing the Lancaster, He immediately readied his weapon and took aim. The witches kept on getting closer and closer, blissfully unaware of the inevitable.

The tail gunner squeezed the trigger. Both Gertrude and Erica were caught by surprise.

"Why are they firing at us?"

"Should we fire back?"

A bullet whizzed by Erica. Her training kicked in, causing her to ready her weapon.

"I'M ENGAGING!"

Erica zoomed forward, firing as she went. The Landcaster started to jink around and started corkscrewing. Barkhorn, while not wanting to hurt another human, nevertheless cocked her weapon and followed suit.

* * *

"Bloody Hell! They're firing! The damn Jerries are actually firing!"

"Fire back!"

John was jolted awake by the sudden presence of gunfire. "Arthur... wow... you wouldn't believe the strange dream I just had. There were these flying girls, and-"

"I'm glad that you're awake. Those flying girls are now shooting at us."

"WHAT!?"

The once sleepy Landcaster was now fully alert. The dorsal gunner, who was once blushing at the sight of girl's underwear, was now peering at those same girls. This time, he was aiming to kill. He fired off another burst.

"They just don't stay still!"

Gertrude poised herself for a close in engagement. She dived on the Lancaster, guns blazing. The dorsal gunner responded with fire of his own.

"Engine fire!"

The plane's right most engine burned a bright red. The Lancaster started to lower in the sky. The dorsal gunner aimed carefully, and fired a quick burst. Barkhorn received a hit to the stomach. She started to fall from the sky. Erica almost had a heart attack.

"TRUDE!" She dived and caught her falling comrade. This wasn't the first time Trude was hit. Vowing revenge, she emptied her clip into the tail gunner's large aircraft then dived into what seemed to be a storm cloud. Still carrying Barkhorn, Erica dove after the bomber. The storm cloud seemed awfully familiar...

* * *

Inside the stormcloud, the crew of the Lancaster were constantly being jolted around. Flashes of lighting were seemingly getting closer and closer. All hell then broke lose.

"SPEED DROPPING!"

"ALTITUDE! WE'RE FALLING FAST!"

The two pilots darted through the instruments, trying to find some sort of cause for the sudden stall. When they looked up to see out the windshield, they were blinded by a bright blue light. Even with closed eyes, the light penetrated through. When their eyes opened, they found themselves flying over a peaceful sea in broad daylight.

"Where are we?"

"Why is it suddenly daylight?"

* * *

**September 28th, 1944 - Britannia - "Neuroi"** **Dimension**

Erica awoke still grasping Gertrude, who was unconscious. She was flying low level, and above the ocean. She could see the quite familiar Britainnian coast in the distance, giving her hope. She was finally home! Erica increased speed, grasped Trude tighter and prepared to make a landing. What will they say? Surely no one would belive them when they claimed they saw large Britainnian aircraft firebombing a city.

Erica and Gertrude's landing was greeted with a mass of witches and ground personnel. Gertrude was promptly whisked off to the medical bay while Erica was bombarded with questions.

"Where were you?"

"Why is Barkhorn hurt?"

"Are you okay?"

Erica did the best she could to answer the flurry of questions.

"I don't know where I was... We were attacked by some sort of large aircraft... Yes, I seem to be fine."

Wing Commander Minna asked a question which made everyone fall silent:

"Did you happen to see Mio or Charlotte?"

Erica sighed, and let out a disappointing "No."

The sound of an approaching aircraft interrupted the flow of questions. All eyes turned to the sky. The more trained ears immediately recognized the sound of Merlin engines. Perhaps it was a passing flight of spitfires. The feint dot appeared on the horizon, growing bigger and bigger until the crowd could distinguish a tail and wings. The strange aircraft circled around, lowering altitude. It matched Erica's description of the aircraft she saw perfectly! The landing gear came down, and it made a flyover of the castle before seeming to make a touchdown on the mainland. Everyone marveled at the sheer size of the plane, slowly moving back to questions. Minna decided to meet this strange aircraft in person.

* * *

"Is everyone alright?" Arthur looked to the back of the plane. They had just landed in what seemed to be Britain. They did however, fly over a castle that wasn't on any sort of map or chart they had of the area. The crew burst the door open and fumbled out, where they were met by a jeep carrying a red haired woman of seemingly high military rank. Next to her, was a male driver. The woman went straight to business.

"Good day sirs. What are your names and where are you from?"


End file.
